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  <title>BBC - Newsbeat - Technology - Thailand bans Grand Theft Auto IV</title>
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  Thailand bans Grand Theft Auto IV
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                        By Jim Reed
                    
    	  
  	
    
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                        Newsbeat technology reporter
                    
    	  
  	
    
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      Copies of Grand Theft Auto IV have been pulled in Thailand after a teenager confessed to murdering a taxi driver.
    	  
  	
    
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The 18-year-old high school student is accused of stabbing the cab driver to death by trying to copy a scene from the game. 

    	  
  	
    
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The biggest video game publisher in the south-east Asian country, New Era Interactive Media, has told retailers to stop selling GTA IV.

    	  
  	
    
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It is due to be replaced by another video game title.

    	  
  	
  

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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      Death penalty
    	  
  	
    
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Thai newspapers say the teenager, whose name has been withheld, was arrested while trying to steer a cab backwards out of a Bangkok street with the driver still in the back seat.

    	  
  	
    
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Police claim the 18-year-old confessed to stealing the taxi and said he killed the 54-year-old driver after he fought back. The teenager could face the death penalty if he is found guilty.

    	  
  	
    
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Bangkok police Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak said: "He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game.

    	  
  	
    
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      He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game.
    	  
  	
    
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      Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak
    	  
  	
    
      Bangkok police
    	  
  	
    
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"He wanted money to play the game. His parents, who work as civil servants, did not have enough money to give him." 

    	  
  	
    
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Thailand's Culture Ministry has recently been pushing for tougher regulation of games like Grand Theft Auto.

    	  
  	
    
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It wants stricter age ratings and restrictions on the hours that people can play games in arcades.

    	  
  	
    
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Ladda Thangsupachai, director of the ministry's Cultural Surveillance Centre, said: "This time-bomb has already exploded and the situation could get worse. Today it is a cab driver, but tomorrow it could be a video game shop owner."

    	  
  	
  
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Story from BBC NEWS:<br>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7540000/7540623.stm<br>
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Published: 2008/08/04 10:52:37 GMT<br>
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&copy; BBC MMVIII<br>
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